Victor's Death is a Burden to All
by Cerulean Apocalypse
Summary: After the season finale, Victor dies. However, the cause of death is unclear, and two students are accused of murder. Will they avoid jail? Will they Find the cause of Victor's death? WILL THEY SAVE ANY HEDGEHOGS?  *story needs a better title*
1. Chapter 1

Author's note:** Hi. Hey. Hello. How are you? This is my first House of Anubis Fanfic. I hope you like it. By the way, I don't own House of Anubis, Harry Potter, or IHOP.**

How Victor Died (And Brought Down Everyone Else With Him)

It had been a few weeks since Fabian had thrown out the Elixir, and everyone in the house seemed to be getting along fine. Except Victor. He had spent most of his life trying to think of a way to get the Elixir back, but nothing came to him.

"That's it! I can't go on, Corbierre!" cried Victor one cold, rainy day. "Those meddlesome children ruined my last chance for immortality! There's no way to get it back, and I can't live any longer!" With that, he coughed several times and then collapsed on the floor. As he fell, his head it the desk and began to bleed. A cold air known as Death filled the room. Even Corbierre could have told you that his 'master' was dead. Well, not really, seeing as dead stuffed crows can't talk, but you get the idea.

Victor lay dead on the floor for quite a while, until Fabian came up, carrying a large box.

"Excuse me, Victor? This came in the mail for you, and Trudy told me to bring it up to your off-" Suddenly, he broke off, noticing that Victor was lying dead on the floor.

"Victor?" asked Fabian cautiously. He knelt down on the floor and checked Victor's pulse. Realizing that the old caretaker was dead, he ran out. He yelled at the top of his lungs, "I DIDN'T DO IT! I DIDN'T DO IT!" all the way down the stairs.

..~0~..

Some time later, Nina and Amber heard Fabian screaming. So they went to Victor's office to investigate, wondering if Victor knew why Fabian was screaming. They entered the office, expecting to find a grumpy old man, sitting at his desk with that creepy stuffed bird. Instead, they found a grumpy old man lying dead on the floor.

"WE DIDN'T DO IT!" they screamed. Amber shoved Nina over and ran out the door. Nina nearly landed on Victor. She shrieked in horror and dove toward the door. Together, they ran downstairs and hid in the closet under the stairs.

"Like where Harry Potter used to sleep," Nina whispered to herself. Amber honestly didn't care, because Hermione didn't wear cute shoes. Ever.

..~0~..

From down the hall, Patricia and Mara could hear them. Loud shrieking was not uncommon from Amber, but Nina? That never happened, unless there was a good reason. Eventually, Patricia's curiosity got the better of her.

"Mara, I'm going to go see what those two were screaming about. Guard the door," she commanded.

Her roommate looked at her, somewhat offended. "Why do I always have to guard the door?" The hedgehog routine was getting overly elaborate from all the times they used it. Patricia just sighed.

"Mara, when you get good at guarding, I will promote you. But remember how many close calls we've had with you guarding?" Patricia wasn't trying to be mean, and Mara knew it. She was really horrible with guard duty.

Nonetheless, Mara stood outside the door to Victor's office while Patricia slid inside. She waited calmly for her friend to emerge, but then Patricia screamed very loudly. Mara turned around, only to see Patricia fleeing for her life, yelling, "I didn't do it! I didn't do it!" She raced down the stairs, and didn't sop until she was safely hidden in the laundry room.

As Patricia ran screaming throughout the house, Alfie and Jerome took notice of her. Jerome stared in shock, as he had never seen her act like this before.

Alfie just shrugged. "What do you think that was all about?" he asked.

"I don't know," Jerome replied. "But if something's going on in this house, I'm going to get to the bottom of this." With that, Jerome strode up the staircase, Alfie following, only to find Mara guarding the door to Victor's office. In Jerome's mind, that had suspicious written all over it.

"Mara, please move," Jerome commanded. Mara blushed. Was she still on guard duty or not? Just to be on the safe side, she decided she was.

"But Victor's really, really busy," she stated, clearly lying. Alfie couldn't tell, though.

"Doing what?" he asked.

Mara sighed. She had to use the routine again. "Reading a very important paper on how poor, defenseless hedgehogs die every year, lying dead in the middle of roads." Alfie was still not aware she was lying. Therefore, he was now sad.

"Oh. The poor hedgehogs," said Alfie sadly. "What can I do to help them?"

Mara began her speech about adding road signs, requesting laws Hedgehog Awareness Day, adopting hedgehogs, and joining Mara's made-up society (shhh, don't tell anyone), the International Hedgehog-lovers Office of Protection(better known as IHOP). Just as she began to speak, though, Jerome interrupted.

"Alfie," he began. "Do you not realize she's just stalling? There is something on the other side of this door, and Patricia is making her guard it. Let's just go in." Alfie blushed a little. How could he have fallen for that?

Ignoring Mara, Jerome led Alfie into Victor's office. They saw the body. What did they do? They ran away screaming "WE DIDN'T DO IT! WE DIDN'T DO IT!" They left Mara standing outside the door, wondering what horror might be inside. Of course, she had suspicions, but was too afraid to look.

..~0~..

While Mara was afraid, Mick was very curious. Almost all of the people in the house had run screaming from Victor's office. Intrigued, he walked up the stairs, only to find his girlfriend waiting outside of Victor's office.

"Mara, what's in there?" he asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "If I did know, I probably wouldn't be standing here." It was clear to Mick that Mara was too afraid to look inside. He saw this as an opportunity to impress her. So he peeked inside the doorway.

All he could see was the legs of the corpse, but that was enough for him. He nearly screamed in horror. "Mara," Mick said in a shaky voice. "I think Victor's dead. Go get Trudy." Mara looked pale, but did as she was told.

..~0~..

Moments later, Mara returned with Trudy. Mick told her about the corpse, and opened the door. Trudy cautiously walked in, finding Victor dead on the floor, his head bleeding. Her eyes widened in shock. She checked his pulse. Nothing. Pale and shaking, Trudy exited the room.

"Victor is dead," she stated, still in a state of shock. She thought about the blood. 'I'm going to call the police station; people don't just die out of the blue." Trudy turned to go call the police, but called over her shoulder, "Mick, could you please bring the body downstairs for the police?" She continued down the stairs and left the two standing there.

"Well," Mara said, breaking the silence. "Shall we bring down the body, then?" Mick nodded grimly, the idea of touching a dead Victor giving him the urge to hurl. He walked in and weakly gripped Victor's coat lapels.

"This has to be the single most disgusting thing I've ever done," Mick choked out. He dragged the body for a short distance before Victor's head lolled back and hit his hand. "Gross!" he yelled. This continued a fair amount of times, resulting in Victor being dropped down the stairs.

Mara felt slightly guilty seeing Victor's corpse roll down the stairs. Do you want me to help?" she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she reached for Victor's sleeves. Her hand brushed against the cold, clammy skin, and she gave a small shriek. "You know what?" she started. "I have a better idea." Mara ran down the stairs. Moments later, she returned with two pairs of rubber gloves.

"I think it's a good idea to use garbage bags as well," suggested Mick, putting the gloves on. He went to the kitchen and took out two garbage bags, and returned to the foot of the stairs where Victor's corpse lay.

The rubber gloves and plastic bags served their purpose well. The two teens put them on, shoved the corpse in the garbage bags, and hauled the body out of the house. Just as the police showed up. When two teens wearing rubber gloves drag a dead body wrapped in garbage bags out of a house on a rainy day, it never looks good.

"Mick Campbell and Mara Jaffrey, you will be taken in for questioning in the supposed murder of Victor Rodenmaar Jr." Sergeant Roebuck said as handcuffed the two and shoved them into one of the cop cars.

End of Chapter One

**Author's Note: Well, what do you think? The story just kind of came to me one day, except at the time it was really stupid. So it matured some, and formed into something still silly, but more serious. Leave your thoughts, flames, constructive criticism, what you would like to see in future chapters, and so on. The Anonymous Review is on, so everyone can comment. I'll update when I can. Those who read and enjoyed are the best. If you read and didn't really like it, I'm still glad you read it.**

**~Apocalypse=)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Chapter 2 time! Thanks to those who read and reviewed, it motivates me in writing. For those who don't know, Sergeant Roebuck is the cop in Victor's secret society. I don't own House of Anubis. **

Chapter 2: Wait-WHAT!

After Sergeant Roebuck got Mick and Mara into the police car, he drove off to the station and shoved them into a holding cell.

"This is just a misunderstanding!" Mara cried. "We didn't kill him!"

"Yeah, what motive would we have, anyway?" yelled Mick. "Sure, he was really grumpy, mean, bitter, and he filled his office with creepy dead animals, but that doesn't mean we wanted to kill him!" Mara couldn't help but roll her eyes. Jerome was right- Mick was acting like a total meathead.

The sergeant just sighed. The kid was a meathead. He had just stated multiple reasons why he disliked the old man, and therefore qualified as motives to killing him. "Sorry kids, until there's solid proof, we can't let you go," Roebuck said, his voice wavering. Victor had been his friend. Sort of. Roebuck had wanted himself and Victor to be more than friends, but that just wasn't possible. Victor fended off his advances, and the coziest time they had spent together was when he was invited to Anubis House for afternoon tea. Victor had only wanted to talk about Patricia Williamson not finding out about Joy, though. All that was over, though. Victor was dead.

Sergeant Roebuck went on with his duties, though. He called a coroner to examine Victor's corpse, leaving Mick complaining and Mara yammering about how legally unfair it was.

..~0~..

Back at Anubis House, everyone had come out of their hiding places. The air was thick with tension, as they had just learned that Victor was dead. The question was, how _did_ he die?

"So Victor is dead," Amber said slowly. She was in a state of shock, even though she had seen the body half an hour ago.

Nina nodded, wondering how he died. "I wonder what happened. I mean, his head was bleeding. What really happened in there?" she said pensively. Fabian gave her a little look. Nina always seemed to be thinking ahead of them. He was about to say something, but then Jerome interrupted.

"Wait- where's Mara? She was standing right outside of Victor's office." The others realized that Jerome was correct.

"And Mick?" Fabian added. His roommate never trained when it was raining, so something must have happened to him and Mara.

Then Nina remembered something. "When Amber and I were under the stairs, we heard them saying something about the corpse. There was also a lot of noise."

Amber remembered. "Oh, yeah! There was some screaming, some rustling sound, and then, something like police sirens." Her eyes widened. "You don't think…." Her voice trailed off, the others looking at her in a way that hinted what she was thinking might be true. Then the phone rang.

Patricia walked over to answer it. "Hello?"

"Yes, this is Sergeant Roebuck," the caller said. "I am calling to tell that Mick Campbell and Mara Jaffrey have become persons of interest, and will not be returning to Anubis house until we find the cause of Victor Rodenmaar Jr.'s death. Have a nice day." Sergeant Roebuck hung up before Patricia could do anything. She turned back to her friends, a look of shock and worry on her face.

"Patricia?" Fabian asked. "Who was that?"

Alfie also noticed the look. "That wasn't Rufus, was it?" Patricia shook her head.

"No, it wasn't Rufus, Alfie." He sighed in relief. "It was the police," she said. The look returned. "Mick and Mara are suspects of killing Victor." The room froze. How were they going to clear their friends' names?

..~0~..

Meanwhile, the coroner had just finished examining Victor's body.

"Well," Sergeant Roebuck said anxiously. "What happened?"

The coroner, Dr. Sherman P. Stonestein, M.D., sighed. "The specimen only appears to be about 67, but the organs seem belong to someone much older. There are bruises everywhere, and the cut on his head arrears to be the work of a random wooden object."

Roebuck nodded. "So how do you think he died?" he asked.

"It's a very irregular death, but here's my best guess: The two children in question had given him some drug, which caused him to weaken. It appears he was taking strong antidepressants, which weakened his cardiovascular system," He stopped to breathe.

"Wait- what about the blood?" Roebuck interrupted. "Are you telling me Victor Rodenmaar, who I knew _quite _well, died of a drug overdose?"

"You did not let me finish!" Stonestein cried. "That was only part of my theory. Here's the rest of it: Mr. Rodenmaar was having trouble breathing, and called for help. Campbell and Jaffrey came, and whacked him with miscellaneous wooden objects until he lost consciousness. Then, to finish the job, the boy whacked him in the head, killing him off!"

Sergeant Roebuck thought this seemed very probable. "Have you found any proof?" he asked.

Stonestein looked as though he was about to rip out all of his hair. "Again, you interrupted me! What is it with you and this guy? Were you gay lovers, or something?" Sergeant Roebuck just blushed. "You know what? Never mind, I really don't care," the coroner continued. "Anyway, back to the case! After they killed him, the two ran. Others discovered the body, and after they ran screaming, they returned to retrieve the body. After realizing they got their finger prints all over the corpse, they got rubber gloves and black garbage bags to conceal their dark deed. However, someone in the house, a woman named Trudy Rehman, realized Victor had died of irregular causes, and called the police station. And, well, you know the rest." Sherman P. Stonestein, M. D., finally stopped talking to breathe.

"Are you done talking now?" Roebuck asked.

"Yes," he replied. "I am finished with my explanation." Sergeant Roebuck looked at this odd little man. As long and complicated as his explanation was, it made sense.

He walked over to the holding cell. "Mara Jaffrey and Mick Campbell, we have reached an explanation for the sudden death of Victor Rodenmaar Jr.," he said.

"Really?" Mara exclaimed. "What is it?" Mick looked to him enthusiastically.

Roebuck smirked it would be fun to drop the news on them. "You two are under arrest for the murder of an innocent man."

"WHAT?"

..~0~..

The next morning, Nina skimmed over the newspaper. The usual amount of British gossip, politics, and cartoons faced her. Then, she saw one huge headline, accompanied by two familiar mug shots. _**Local Students Arrested For Murder**_ it read. Her eyes shot through the article, catching bits and pieces, until she saw the words _will be brought to trial in two day's time. All witnesses, friends, family, and the general curious are invited to attend._

"Nina?" Fabian was staring at her, looking worried. "Are you okay?"

Nina shook her head. "No, I'm not. Take a look at this." Nina showed the others the newspaper. Their reaction was simultaneous.

"WHAT?"

End of Chapter 2

**Author's note: Well, I hope you enjoyed it. If you are wondering why I made the cop gay, I don't really know either. He just kind of struck me as that. So, yeah. Leave your thoughts, comments, flames, whatever. The anonymous review is on. Thanks to izzie08 and charn14, who contacted me with their thoughts. Those who comment get shout outs. Anyway, ****Pretty Little Liars **** just started, so I've got to go.**

**~Apocalypse=)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Okay, Chapter 3. ….. Okay, after a minute of thinking, I remembered how I was going to do this. So here's Chapter 3! Enjoy!**

**Oh, and guess what? I OWN SOMETHING! What is it? A rock I found at the beach that was broken, and it's full of Shiny-ness. So, no, I don't own House of Anubis.**

Chapter 3: What Do We Do Now?

The residents of Anubis House were abuzz. They knew, obviously, that Mara and Mick were innocent. Mara was too nice to kill someone, and Mick was too stupid. So how on earth did they get framed?

"Should we go to their trial?" Amber asked. "I mean, we know they're innocent. Shouldn't we help them clear their names?"

Patricia sighed. "We should, but we don't actually have any proof. Do you think we were just going to show up, say they're innocent, and the police would let them go?"

"Patricia's right," Fabian agreed. "We need to find actual proof that they didn't kill Victor,"

"Okay," Alfie said. "So where do we start?" He looked around. No one said anything. Seriously? No one has any ideas?"

"Well," Nina started. "We could always search his office. Who knows? There's got to be some proof at the scene of the crime." The others agreed. "Okay, we'll get started after school. Sibuna?"

"Sibuna," the rest of the club said. They grabbed their bags and headed off to class.

..~0~..

Once they got to school, they were bombarded with questions about what happened.

"Did you see the body?"

"Did you see them killing Victor?"

"Are they innocent?"

"Jerome, will you go out with me?"

"Does Anubis House smell like a funeral home?"

"How was he killed?"

"Do they suspect anyone else?"

"Is it just me, or does more drama go down in Anubis House than all the other houses combined?"

"How long are Mick and Mara sentenced to prison?"

"Why do you think they killed him?"

"Do you think they killed Victor?"

"I bet Victor was frowning when he died. Was he frowning?"

The group had to deal with stupid questions like this all day. They even got questions from a couple of teachers. Luckily, Patricia blew something up in the chemistry lab, and everyone got sent back to their houses early by the Hazardous Waste Control Center.

The second they got to Anubis House, they ran to Victor's office. "Look for anything suspicious," Nina said.

"These stuffed animals are pretty suspicious," Alfie commented. Nina gave him a look. "Right, stay focused," he reminded himself. He helped the others look through the office.

Suddenly, Jerome burst out laughing. "Oh, you have _got _to be kidding me," he said. "Guy, come have a look at this!" He held up a thick leather bound book.

"The Journal of the Immortal Victor Rodenmaar," read Fabian.

"Oh, my gosh," Amber giggled. "Victor had a diary!" She took the book from Jerome and Began to read.

_Friday, a full moon._

_Today was the day I have waited 25 years for. Today was supposed to become immortal. It was a failure, though. Rufus Zeno, my former college, returned. He held those awful, revolting children captive, because he assumed they had the Ankh pieces. He was wrong. Joy had them, and she wasn't even the Chosen One. Nina Martin, the American, turned out to be the Chosen One. _

_She ended up putting the cup together, and then Rufus took it. However, Miss Martin's little comrade, Fabian Rutter, switched the elixir, and threw the real one away. The imbecile! _

_I had originally purchased this book to record my great, immortal doings. However, since Mr. Rutter ruined the chances of that, I may as well use this._

_Victor Rodenmaar Jr._

The others stared at the book in silence. "Amber," Jerome finally said. "That could be the key to Mara and Mick's freedom. Look at the last entry." Amber flipped through the pages, trying to find the final entry. She was taking a long time.

"What does Victor do all day that he had to fill up this whole book?" Alfie wondered. Finally, Nina took the book from Amber, and managed to find a page dated 2 days ago. She began to read.

_Today I ate some oatmeal for my breakfast. It was flavorless and watery. I thought of my mother. I cried._

_I put on my raincoat and traveled to Dragon's Alley. I purchased a pair of fancy mice. When I brought them home, one devoured the other and then died of loneliness. I purchased. I felt envy._

_Today some boy showed me his bleeding middle finger. When I attempted to punish the child, he shoved me into a wall screaming 'Bother! Bother!' Later, he and some orange friend of his repeated the violent act until I lost consciousness. Tonight I prayed for the first time in 20 days. I prayed for the end._

_I lost a button on my coat today. Trudy pointed it out in front of the entire house._

_Button, oh button, oh where have thou fled?_

_Did thee tarry too long amongst fabric and thread? _

_Did ye roll off my bosom and cease to exist?_

_How I wish could follow thee into the mist._

_Then today, while in the bathtub, I had a nightmare. I was riding Amit the Devourer through a thunderstorm. Every clap of thunder resolved into __**their**__ voices. "Bother! Bother!" Suddenly, I was at the Christmas ball with Sarah Frobisher- Smythe. I asked her to dance. She asked me to die. Would that I could Sarah, would that I could._

_When I awoke, my skin was prune-like from the tepid bathwater, and I was late for golf with Eric Sweet. _

_Today that Alfred Lewis boy accidentally drank one of my failed elixirs. Again. He promptly vomited a glittering rainbow of foul waste. The children erupted with worry, triggering my migraine. I kicked them out and was left to clean the boy's sick. Halfway through, Jason Winkler showed up and bragged about his many affairs with Ms. Robinson. I thought of my father. I cried._

The students stared at the entry in utter disbelief. "That was just Victor's version of Snape's Diary!" Patricia shouted. "Unbelievable!"

"We have nothing to work with!" Fabian exclaimed. "We have no proof. Mick and Mara are going to jail." He banged his head against the wall in despair. Then, Alfie's face lit up.

"I've got an idea," he announced. 'I'll be right back." The others watched as Alfie made a beeline for the door and ran down the stairs. A minute later, he returned. Dressed as a ghost. "Woooooohoooooo. I am the ghost of Victor Rodenmaar Jr. Mick Campbell and Mara Jaffrey didn't kill me. Wooooooooooohooooooooooooo."

The others gave feeble attempts at laughter. "Aw, sorry Alfie," Amber said sympathetically. "I know you're trying to lighten the mood; but our friends are going to prison. That's a very, very hard mood to lighten. Everyone else seemed to agree.

"Jerome are you crying?" Patricia asked suddenly.

"No, I—I've just got something in my eye," he tearfully replied. Then he cried, "Oh, who am I kidding, I'm going to miss Mara and Meathead." He cried even harder, making everyone else start crying.

In spite of the tears, and sad thoughts, Nina's brain somehow managed to make a rather strange connection. "I know how we're going to get them out of jail!" she exclaimed.

"How?" asked Fabian. "There's nothing in here that gives evidence to Victor's death."

Nina smiled. "Or is there?"

..~0~..

Over in the prison, Mara and Mick were miserable. They were put in separate cells, but their cellmates were equally weird.

Mick was stuck with a creepy con-man called Bart Renaldo Zuckerberg, who tried to get him to buy used sporks. There was a guy named "Da Diablo," who insisted on speaking with a Spanish accent, even though he was Scottish. Da Diablo was a red-headed gangster who shoved random people into walls. He also held the prison's record for "Most Escaped." They were both really creepy, and thought that you could dig concrete walls with plastic cutlery.

Mara didn't have it any better. One of her cellmates was a forty year old woman who was named Alice Jennings. Alice had a long history of burning buildings, killing her brother's fiancée, mugging hobos¸ and shoplifting. She had finally been caught after she used her fingernails to rip open a man's throat, and eating his arms. The other prisoner was in her twenties, and called herself "the Celebrity Exterminator," CE. She had been arrested for planning an elaborate plan to kill many teen heart throbs, such as Justin Bieber and Robert Pattinson. According to CE, if we didn't have them, kids would read more classical novels, do better in school, and live completely grounded lives. No one agreed with her, and she was completely crazy, so they sent her to prison.

They were stuck with these psychos. They had no way out. When the other prisoners asked about what their supposed murder, they had but one thing to say: "WE DIDN'T DO IT!"

End of Chapter 3

Author's Note**: Sorry I didn't update last night. My sister and I started a new story for the ****Sisters Grimm ****Archive. Anyway, I hope you liked it. Leave your thoughts, comments, compliments, and flames. The anonymous review is on, for those who don't have accounts, or are just too lazy to log in. Shout outs to izzi08, S.I.B.U.N.A. 1398, and SullyClark, who reviewed. Those who review get shout outs.**

**Hope you all liked it!**

**~Apocalypse=)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Chapter 4 is here. This is probably the last chapter, unless I think of something for an epilogue. So, yeah, enjoy! I forgot to mention this in the last chapter: I don't own the Potter Puppet Pals. I also don't own House of Anubis.**

Chapter 4: Trial Time

The day of the trial arrived, cold and rainy. Due to the weather, many roads had been closed off. Assuming no one else would arrive, the trial started early.

The judge banged his gavel. "Now, the jury is here, as are the lawyers, the persons of interest, and the stenographer. I propose that, due to the rain, we begin this trial early. All in favor?" he asked. Everyone raised their hands, except for Mara and Mick. They still had a small hope that some one would burst through the door, with evidence of their innocence. Sadly, they were ignored, and the trial began.

..~0~..

Meanwhile, the remaining residents of Anubis House were in Victor's car, trying to figure out how to get to Liverpool City Hall.

"Okay, Jerome, turn left on Elm Highway," Nina instructed, trying to read a large road map.

"No, he should turn RIGHT on Birch Road," Amber contradicted.

Alfie shook his head. "The quickest route to City Hall is on Maple Avenue."

"Is SOMEONE going to tell me where to go?" Jerome yelled. "And WHY are all these streets named after trees?"

Patricia smirked. "Well, didn't someone forget his Happy Juice this morning?"

"Shut up Patricia," Jerome said crankily. "I just wish we could all agree on a road. So, what will it be?" He turned to the others.

"Just turn on Balsa Lane," Fabian said. "It's the closest to where we are now."

Jerome turned up the road, only to discover that it was blocked by a fallen balsa tree. "Stupid irony," Jerome muttered. He put the car in reverse and tried Elm Highway. That on was flooded. He also tried Maple Avenue. Suddenly, the car lurched.

"Jerome! You ran over a hedgehog!" Patricia yelled. She jumped out of the car and picked up the despairingly pathetic hedgehog.

"Oh, it's so sad cute!" Amber squealed.

Jerome looked mad. "We are not going to be late for the trial because of a hedgehog," he exclaimed.

"Besides," Alfie added. "What if it has rabies?" Nina agreed with him, but then she saw the little animal.

"Jerome, you did run it over. And isn't Mara trying to save the hedgehogs? " she asked.

"Please?" Amber begged. "Please please please please please PLEASSSSSEE?"

Jerome's eye began to twitch. "Fine! but if that thing bites me, it's going back to the street." The girls found this agreeable, and the car continued driving.

Jerome tried all the other roads. He drove left, right, forwards, and backwards. They were all either dead ends, flooded, or closed off.

The six of them were about to give up and just run there through the rain, when Fabian saw another road. It led directly to City Hall, too.

"What's this one called?" Jerome asked. "Spruce Boulevard? Pine Turnpike?"

"Tree Street," Fabian replied. Jerome banged his head on the steering wheel. The tree-themed roads were really annoying him. Fortunately, though, Tree Street was not closed, and they made it to City Hall at 10:45. They did not know that the trial had actually started at 10:15.

..~0~..

Back in the court room, the trial was going miserably. They were almost done, and there was no one with proof that they were innocent.

The judge began to speak. "So, if no one has further objections, the jury will now vote if these two," he gestured to Mick and Mara.

Suddenly, six soaking wet people burst through the door, one covered in mud, another carrying what appeared to be a wet porcupine that was run over. Then, Mick (shocking, right) realized that it was their friends.

"What are you doing here? And why did you bring a muddy bum with you?" he asked. The 'muddy bum' pushed back their hood. It was Amber

"I fell in a mud puddle outside, okay? Oh, and we're here because Nina found proof that you and Mara were innocent," Amber explained. Nina nodded.

"You're Honor, I have proof that these two are innocent," she said.

The old judge knit his eyebrows. "Really? How did you find proof, and the cops couldn't?"

"Let's just say, they were looking in all the wrong places," she replied. Then, Nina reached into her coat pocket, and pulled out a disk. Borrowing a laptop and a projector from closet outside the room, she played the disk.

It showed Victor, sitting in his office. He just sat there for a while, looking depressed. He took a few painkillers after about a minute. For a few more minutes, nothing happened. Then, Victor got up and began talking to Corbierre. The entire room heard the whole conversation. Then they watched as Victor collapsed on the floor, hit his head on the desk, and died. They also got to see the children's reaction to the corpse. The jury found it especially funny when Amber pushed Nina onto the corpse. Eventually, though, they saw what had really happened to Mick and Mara.

"Well," the judge said once the video finished. "I believe that these two are indeed innocent. Jurors, what do you think?"

The jury left the room for a minute, discussing the matter in the hall. They then entered the room. "We, the jury, find that Michael Campbell and Mara Jaffrey and not guilty, but innocent." The room burst into cheers, and everyone was hugging and yelling.

"Wait," Mara started. "Where did you even get that footage?"

Then it all came together. "Remember how Victor put up those cameras in the house? He left one in his office. I had completely forgotten about them, until, Alfie came in wearing a ghost costume. Victor got rid of all but one of the cameras, the one in his office," Nina explained quickly.

There was a short chorus of "Oooohhhh," "of course," and "that makes sense," but eventually, they all got into the car and drove home.

"I still have one question, though," Mara stated. "Patricia, why are you holding a sick hedgehog?" Everyone else tried to explain, all at the same time. Mick and Mara could decipher the main idea, though: Jerome had run over Tree the Hedgehog.

_It's amazing what you miss in a few short days, _Mara thought. It's ironic, because not much had happened when she wasn't there, and the whole Cup- of- Ankh mystery had occurred when she was there.

End of Chapter 4

**Author's Note: THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER! I THOUGHT OF AN EPILOGE WHILE WRITING! I'll try to upload it on August 1****st****. In the meantime, review. The anonymous review is on. Shout outs to furgil12, izzi08, S.I.B.U.N.A. 1398, and charn14. Those who review get shout outs.**

**~Apocalyse**


	5. 5: the Epilogue Type of Thingamadoozle

Author's Note:** Okeydokey, this is the final chapter. Thank you all for coming along on this short ride, it's been fun. So here you go; the epilogue. Enjoy!**

Chapter 5: the Epilogue Type of Thingamadoozle

After the trial, they all went home. Sherman P. Stonestein, M.D., was arrested for coming up with such an absurd death explanation. The corpse of Victor Rodenmaar was placed into a coffin and buried, courtesy of the other teachers. All was well.

However, there was a strange feeling in the house. It was a bit like when you go to the beach, and there a lot of jellyfish in one area, making the water over there feel slimy. That was not the case, though, because the school was no where near the beach. What was that feeling though?

A few days later, everyone found the answer. They had been in the living room, discussing whether or not to keep Shrubwort the Hedgehog. Evidently, he was dragging dead frogs, snakes, and mushrooms that were poisonous to humans through the house.

"We can't just through him out," Mara protested. "Shrubwort still hasn't recovered from Jerome running him over." She shot him an angry look.

Jerome rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you? It was an accident! And besides that furry little mongrel has to go. He ate my styling gel!" he complained. The discussion continued for a while, growing louder and louder. Then, Amber realized someone covered by a white sheet was standing behind her.

"Oh, hi Alfie!" she greeted.

"Amber?" said a voice from the other side of the room. "I'm over here." Amber looked in the direction of the voice. Alfie _was_ over there.

Patricia crinkled her forehead. "If we're all here, then who's that?" she asked, referring to the 9th person on the room.

"I don't know," Nina replied.

"There's only one way to find out," added Fabian.

He stood up and pulled the sheet off of the figure. Underneath, though, was the ghostly image of Victor Rodenmaar Jr. While the children sat frozen in fear, Victor strode to the center of the room. Then, he said one dark, ghostly, terrorizing word; "Boo."

The children shrieked in fear and ran out of the house. Even Nina, who had seen the ghost of Sarah so many times, was terrified. Victor had been their bitter enemy. Also, Mara and Mick found the concept of ghosts a new foreign territory. They all ran far from the house, though.

They had left the ghost of Victor laughing his head off. That was, however, until Trudy found him. Being a woman who was petrified by something as silly as mice, one may imagine how she reacted to seeing the ghost of a rather creepy old man.

If you can't imagine, I'll tell you: she fainted.

Almost 6 hours later, the teens returned to Anubis House, and found Trudy lying on the floor. After dealing with everything they had for the past few days, the all had the same thing to say.

"WE DIDN'T DO IT!"

End of Story

**Author's note: Well, I finished it. The story was fun to write, and I hope everyone liked it. Please review. **

**I'd like to thank furgil12, S.I.B.U.N.A. 1398, charn14, and izzi08. Honorable mention to SullyClarke, who reviewed a few chapters ago. You all get shout outs, because you all reviewed. It means so much to me. Even people who didn't review, you all mean a lot to me. I just wish I knew who you were, so I could thank you. **

**Anyway, the anonymous review is still on, so always comment. I love you all, this has been a fun, but short, ride. **

**~Apocalypse =)**

**;)**

**:)**

**=D**

**8)**

**%)**

**:{ )**

**(Smiley faces for everyone, even the mustache one!)**


End file.
